But as a city grows, so does its dependence on things like buses and high-speed rail — making for rush hours that will make you grateful for your relatively sane commute.

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Located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, the village of Khurja frequently sees commuters and students alike piling onto passenger buses.

Parivartan Sharma/Reuters

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In Bangladesh, people are getting wealthier faster than the country can expand its infrastructure. The government in Dhaka, the capital city, plans to begin construction on a rapid transit system by 2019.

While heavily trafficked during the day, Bogota's Transmilenio bus system is seldom used at night. Recently, the capital city was judged to have the most unsafe public transit system out of 15 other capitals and New York.

Jose Gomez/Reuters

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The Caracas Metro, in Venezuela, is the fourth-largest rail line in Latin America, with 1.3 million people boarding trains daily.

In São Paulo, South America's largest city, more than 1.5 million people use the trains each day. The Se Metro station, pictured below, is one of the city's busiest.

Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

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Despite a population of 20 million, São Paulo's metropolitan area has only 45 miles of underground track.

Nacho Doce/Reuters

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Ikebukuro station is part of the East Japan Railway Company, the largest rail operator in the world. Attendants patrolling the station must physically push riders onto the trains to accommodate the traffic.

Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

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Rush hour in Beijing frequently features packed corridors and long lines to board trains. In 2008, foot traffic was even worse in preparation for the Olympic Games.

Jason Lee/Reuters

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This can result in horrible traffic jams and wait times of three hours just to travel nine miles.

Nacho Doce/Reuters

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Grand Central Terminal sees roughly 750,000 people pass through each day, making it the single busiest station in New York City.